Author Archive

I can still remember Steve Hogan’s first visit to a Bootstrapper Breakfast at Red Rock Coffee in Mountain View in early 2011. A recent transplant from Boston he had worked as an executive in technology startups and as a turnaround specialist for more than two decades. He had an infectious warmth that made you feel comfortable immediately and is stories contained the kinds of insights about what can go wrong that you only gain by being “in the room” as things are going sideways.

He became and regular and welcome attendee at the breakfasts and encouraged a number of entrepreneurs to check us out. I always try and ask newcomers, “how did you hear about us?” The most common answer after “Meetup” is “I heard this guy Steve Hogan give a talk on running a startup and he suggested the Bootstrapper Breakfast was a good place to meet other startup entrepreneurs.”

Since his first visit he has started Tech-RX, a new type of venture capital with a unique investment strategy of financing companies that require not only funding but also critical management assistance.

“I have the best job in the world! At Tech-Rx, I get to work with innovative young companies with interesting technology and products, and help them to realize their potential. I love early-stage and startup companies, particularly those that can have a significant positive impact on the way people lead their lives and do business.”Steve Hogan, Managing Partner Tech-Rx

He has agreed to give us a 15 minute briefing on will give a 15 minute briefing on “7 Tips for Keeping Your Cash Flow Positive” in addition to our regular roundtable discussion format tomorrow at Red Rock. Steve is an engaging speaker and the roundtable format is designed to encourage questions and a lot of interaction so bring any challenges you would like to discuss and join the conversation.

Trust is built over repeated interactions between people. If your business requires long term relationships then you have to make sure that investments in automation are not deployed in a way that undercut your ability to have real conversations. Unfortunately, some uses of email automation tools are pushing sales conversations into the “Uncanny Valley” because they strive to simulate–but miss–a genuine personalized touch.

Q: We have a product for bloggers but I am having a lot of trouble getting leads. I have met bloggers from popular media companies at events, I have cold called them, e-mailed them, and e-mailed to on-line groups that I am a member of. None of this has worked. How do I interest people in my product?

Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015) governed Singapore as its first Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990. He shepherded the transformation of a small island economy into a first world technology leader.

Here are some excerpts from “The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew” published in 2013, a collection of quotes curated from public sources. I have added some commentary after each related to entrepreneurship.

Simon Sinek earned a BA degree in cultural anthropology from Brandeis University; he attended City University in London with the intention of becoming a barrister, but left law school to go into advertising. He was interviewed in August of 2014 by John Wall on the RoninMarketeer site in connection with the launch of his second book “Leaders Eat Last.” Here are some excerpts that highlight his insights about why leaders and advertisers should put people first.

I remember first learning the principle “leaders eat last” from John K. Russell, an advisor on a summer Presbyterian workcamp in Westpoint Mississippi. He had been an officer in the Army and talked about how the officers had nicer silverware and napkins but it was the same food and they ate after the enlisted men. Simon Sinek uses that principle as a point of departure–leadership as a combination of higher status and service. His description of leadership reminded of Goethe’s maxim “A man is really alive only when he delights in the good-will of others.”

I really like this 2013 passage by Patrick Brady from his “Enter the Deuce Series” that addresses his desire to make his son a repository for dreams. It offers useful insights for both parents and entrepreneurs. I cut it from my “If you are cycling through chaos keep pedaling” post but I liked it so much I wanted to blog about it separately and expand on how to apply it as a parent and/or an entrepreneur.

We help founders find leads and close deals; our focus is on early customers and early revenue for technology and expertise-enabled products and services. We specialize in complex and orchestrated sales to businesses.

Patrick Brady writes at “Red Kite Prayer” on cycling and related topics. His blog took a very personal turn in February of 2013 with a post entitled “Any Normal Person.” In reading the series I was reminded of a remark Irwin Federman made to MMI employees when were using four day work weeks (actually five days work for four days pay): “We trust you to do the right thing. God has given you so much more responsibility as parents how can we not trust you.

You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until they are collected in a blog post at the end of each month. Enter your E-mail address if you would like have new blog posts sent to you.

Leonard Nimoy played Spock, the science officer on the starship Enterprise in the original 1960’s television series, the first six movies in the franchise that followed, and many of the Star Trek spinoff movies and series thereafter. Nimoy infused Spock’s character with a detached rationalism that resonated with many who follow science and engineering careers, including many entrepreneurs–although he was perhaps more of a role model for CTO than CEO.

“There’s no way for such an avalanche of unsolicited advice to come off as anything but preachy. But there’s also something appealing about the scattergun approach. Trying on a few dozen ideas in a few minutes will almost always leave you with something you can take to the bank, if you don’t get hung up on what doesn’t resonate. Here are sixty-seven short pieces of advice I either follow, or probably should. Take from it whatever rings true to you, and don’t take the whole thing too seriously. ”
David Cain’s intro to “67 short pieces of advice you didn’t ask for.“

Here are seven I took away, I have preserved his original numbering and added a few comments to particularize them for entrepreneurs:

I was gratified to be elected to the board of directors for the IEEE Consultants’ Network of Silicon Valley as an at-large director and chair of the marketing committee for 2015. My specific focus will be on initiatives to increase awareness of the CNSV Project Bank and to foster programs–including special interest group meetings, clinics, and workshops–that encourage and assist members to upgrade their on-line presence on the CNSV website, on LinkedIn, their consulting practice website, and other forums and sites that are appropriate for their specific skills and experience. The board has a strategic offsite planned at the end of February to finalize plans for 2015 and I will blog about programs that may also be of interest to bootstrapping entrepreneurs as they announced.

You can follow @skmurphy to get these quotes for entrepreneurs hot off the mojo wire or wait until they are collected in a blog post at the end of each month. Enter your E-mail address if you would like have new blog posts sent to you.